Village Raiders

Spring sprang across Akanbar as eggs hatched, flowers bloomed and armoured raiders descended upon Monadh-Dach. Velcar, captain of the gatehouse, called out, enlisting the aid of threre Elysians- Anthea, Larana and Venturi. Word had been sent from Captain Nysa’s spies that the southern desert village of Lymr had plans to send raiders to Monadh-Dach with the goal of pillage and killing.

At once, the three Elysians set out for Monadh-Dach, meeting up with a village elder that told them of the news and gave them wood for barricades. Despite the elder’s offer for help, the Elysians, proud in their might, decided to single-handedly defend the city. Barricades were built and the three Elysians became five as Celkin and Yulia joined the cause. Waves of raiders descended upon Monadh-Dach, each wave seemingly more deadly than the last, but they were no match for the Elysians, who swiftly dispensed with them.

Without a single casualty on the Elysian side, the city of Monadh-Dach was once again safe, though the villages are still in turmoil, feuding with one another, no doubt fueled by the recently military clashes. While Monadh-Dach is safe for now, one thing is sure- cities should check on their loyal villages, lest they fall to foreign raiders.

Sanctuary of the Conjurers

The Sanctuary of the Conjurers
It began in Ysallyra, with the howling of demons, the blasting horns of hunting parties, and a mysterious voice crying for help from afar. Meldorno, the Arch-druid, called upon Kelegon, Master Mason of Ysallyra, to construct a great platform of dark stone within a grove shrouded in magic. After it was completed the Arch-druid spent many months enchanting it to at last force open a rift in reality that would act as a beacon to the farthest reaches of Akanbar. Beckoned by sanctuary, Penthea gathered the surviving conjurers to safety within the clans of Ysallyra.

Attack on Elysium

A seed peddler cried out to the realm, “Help! Somebody help!” but at first, no one came.

After a short wait, Patriarch Demandred arrived to answer the merchant’s desperate pleas. At the peddler’s request, he sought out the roc that stole a prized possession of the merchant- a strange seed. Despite Golgonath being the savior of the man and Elysium resisting an enticing rescue mission at first, an Elysian novice that showed up moments prior to Demandred’s victory was rewarded the unique seed, whereas Demandred was left with gratitude and barely enough coin to buy a meal. Surely Demandred would feel cheated and angered by this… were it not for the peddler speaking in his ear, passing on Enal’s- The destroyer of Bugia’s- regards.

The Elysian planted the seed in the island in the Lake of Stars, against the current proconsul’s instructions. At first, all was calm; a harmless sapling sprouted up from the ground. As months turned to a year, the sapling became more noticeable , its roots spreading beneath the lake and upturning Vilconda street, home of Elysium’s most wealthy aristocrats. When the tree reached the peak of its life, its leaves began to fall, covering Elysium.

Citizens turned to their patron, Lord Jaethor, for guidance, but he was oblivious to the problem. When bringing up questions about trees on islands and grey leaves scattered across the city, Lord Jaethor nonchalantly responded that trees appeared every year.

The leaves turned to ash and soon disappeared. Unbeknownst to the citizens, the leaves scattered the tree’s influence all over Elysium. Soon, large vines and folliage took the leaves’ places, blocking paths and darkening areas. The harbor came to a standstill as ships got stuck in seaweed and vines. Mestonia Park overflowed with plants, causing citizens to have to fight to walk through.

After much pleading, Shelandra led Lord Jaethor to the island, where only then did he observe the shroud that had been cast upon him. Lord Nakarym, using the opportunity provided by Enal’s malicious tree, had used his powers to shield the tree and its effects from Lord Jaethor’s eyes. Angered, Lord Jaethor shouted out to Lord Nakarym, vowing justice for the evil deed. Shelandra and Allisandre set out to cut down the vines and shrubs which grew from the tree while Lord Jaethor took the fight to Golgonath.

Volcanos erupted at Lord Jaethor’s command, lava flowing through the streets of Golgonath. The southeast entrance to Golgonath became blocked off by molten lava, Lord Nakarym’s beloved flowers soon following. It was then that Shelandra and Allisandre finished destroying the accursed foliage, enabling Lord Jaethor to strike down the tree, ending its malignant existence.

While Enal’s influence was destroyed within Elysium and Lord Jaethor fended off Lord Nakarym’s interference, the latter only succeeded in angering the God of Dominion further.

Seeing the state Elysium was left in, its streets torn asunder and its citizens demoralized, Shanira, sole survivor of the monastery massacre, took up residence in Elysium, accepting the kindness of villages she once helped and constructed a new monastery to raise a new generation of Monks, this time under the banner of Elysium.

The Institute of Demonology

After finishing construction, slaves left the Institute of Demonology, allowing Borakash to gather his thoughts. The city of Golgonath had come through in helping him to construct the institute he so craved. Without further delay, Borakash announced to the world that, standing tall as a beacon of unbounded research, the Institute of Demonology, Golgonath’s newest guild, was now open.

The Great Hunt of 403

Once again becoming the focus of attention, the Colosseum, led by Edros, held another Great Hunt. Each city claimed a golden ring, located in the arena of the Colosseum and spent half a year’s (one week’s) time gathering as many corpses as they could. Heralding from Golgonath, Malic, Tempus and Roeshak worked tirelessly to secure first place, though up until the last minute, Elysium nipped at their heels. Representing Elysium, Shelandra, Ilshara and Vulcan spent days upon days gathering corpses, though not enough to result in their victory. For the first six months, no representative from Ysallyra dare participate, but in the last three days a young novice by the name of Tuuli proved to be the boldest warrior among them, helping to gather several hundred corpses.

The final count for each city was:
1st place: Golgonath with 13338
2nd place: Elysium with 12237
3rd place: Ysallyra with 454

Each corpse put into a participant’s city’s ring would earn that city two points. If the participant placed the corpse in another city’s ring, however, it would deduct one point from that city’s count. Due to Ysallyra’s negligence, however, it was more beneficial to contribute corpses to your own city’s ring.

Year 400 Celebrations

The year 400 has dawned upon the lands of Akanbar, the players taking part in various events held by Gods and mortal alike. For the first half of the year, players were able to earn a bonus amount of experience for their hunting and quests. The entire year, players are able to purchase power crystals and will receive 25% more than normal.

Golgonath, planned by Zinerva, held year 400 celebrations, using a group of slaves as entertainment. Also in Golgonath, Lord Nakarym has stepped in as Patron, replacing a disappearing Lord Bralnok. With the ascension quests finally over, mortals’ eyes have turned back toward the impending new guilds on the horizon.

Final Ascension Quest

After a long wait, the Gods have finally announced the last leg of the ascension quest- the leadership shrine. Contestants are Demandred, Dimetrius and Zinerva. Each player is pitted against each other as teams form, one for each contestant. As the players wait for the impending quest date, they cannot help but wonder just what adventures await them as they struggle to help their leader become Divine.

The ascension quest time is set to begin on April 27th at 9pm BST (4pm EST). It will run until April 28th at 9pm BST (4pm EST).

Earthquake in Akanbar

A naturally occurring earthquake shook the land in Akanbar, causing people across the continent to stumble, shop stock to fall from shelves and caves to collapse. King Domhan gathered aid as the earthquake caused a cave-in of the lowest mines in Monadh-Dach, pleading for assistance to defeat the basilisk so that his men could safely dig out the miners. Days passed and the miners were safely rescued, save for one who perished in the cave-in.

Across the world, a group of villagers suffering under Bardain’s influence fled in the dead of night, acting on rumors spread from Monadh-Dach about a newly discovered island, accessible only through a tunnel near the Blood Scroll. Bardain heard of such rebellion and gathered Ysallyra to pursue the refugees. Ultimately, Bardain grew fed up with the Ysallyrans and outed them from his tent, though they left after proclaiming that they would assist the refugees, not harm them. Upon discovery of the island, the Ysallyrans quickly ran to the refugees aid, taking up arms against Lymr’s camp that Bardain sent after the refugees. Though they were unable to completely decimate the camp’s forces, they may be the refugees only hope for freedom from Bardain’s rule.

Borakash, the Mysterious Demonologist

Dreamed up by the daring minds of Dimetrius Val’akar and pursued by Patriarch Demandred, the forsaken set out, guided by a legend buried in time, to summon a great beast. Spending many months researching and composing a ritual, the city of Golgonath sacrificed a great many bodies in effort to push the boundaries of magic. Little did they know that they were the subject of another’s observation entirely.

A mysterious man stumbled upon the ritual, probing Golgonians, questioning about their ritual that they so intently were working upon. After being respectfully dismissed by Demandred, the man wandered off to work on his own research. Meanwhile, in the mines of Golgonath, the ritual had been executed, causing a tremor to run throughout the area, unearthing what seemed like an endless maze, deep beneath the surface of the city. Created by a creature later to be identified as long extinct, the tunnels ultimately led to the well-preserved corpse of said extinct creature. Some strange being, however, seemed to have found its way into the tunnels and feasted upon the corpse.

Demandred, flanked by a few other Golgonians, carried the eaten-away body back to the Forsaken’s cellar and began to pore over the corpse, studying it intently. The mysterious man from before made yet another appearance, this time picking the locks to the cellar to gain a glimpse of the creature in efforts to further his research. Borakash, as he called himself, explained to Dimetrius, and later Demandred, of his area of expertise- demonology. His curiosity had led him to Golgonath, where he was temporarily staying before setting out into the world once more. His experiment, it seems, had, a few months back, eaten away at the extinct creature’s flesh, though Borakash seemed barely phased by this ghastly disregard for scientific preservation, chalking it up to his experiment’s savage nature.

In exchange for a home and research facility, however, Borakash decided to assist Demandred in using the creature’s body to summon an even greater beast so as to ravage the streets of Elysium. Golgonath united as a mighty force to gather not just the commodities required for Borakash’s new research laboratory, but also a myriad of corpses and body parts from all over the world. Day and night, Borakash spent preparing the corpses for a ritual and, when the time came, such a ritual was held, infusing the long-dead corpse with demonic forces once more, a perversion of resurrection at its finest.

Salivating and snarling, the demonic beast stood by Borakash’s side, obeying its master’s every whim. Keeping up his side of the deal, Borakash and his demon set out toward the Bridge of Dawn. Perhaps due to Borakash’s orders or the demon’s savage tendencies, the beast strayed from its master’s side to ravage a nearby monastery, decimating it and killing most of its occupants in cold blood, truly an act of impiety on both the beast and master’s behalf. Finally reaching the bridge of dawn, the two made their move, mercilessly killing any Elysian they came across.

Murdering under the protection of Dimetrius and Demandred, the demon continued its assault, tearing Detahn limb from limb with its terrifying claws and powerful teeth. After a day’s struggle, however, Preceptor Detahn best the creature, slaying it in effort to protect the western city. Heads held high, however, Golgonath gathered in the center of Victory Square, no doubt a reflection on the common sentiment felt throughout the city. Borakash once more joined them, this time without his now-deceased creature, and explained his plans for the future, teaching the young and old of Golgonath of his power.

Bugia’s Fall

Claiming cooperation from the Forest city to the North, a wandering stranger took to Bugia’s streets, armed with an army of forestal entities. The man, Enal, created a perimeter around Bugia of these entities as he began his magical ritual, which led to the demise of the shady village. Despite both Elysium and Golgonath uniting against such a terrifying foe, the two cities were unable to dent his defenses. While the two cities bickered among each other and threw themselves at Enal’s defenses, structures in Bugia began collapsing and the citizenry was slaughtered.

With an ounce of his sea of strength, Enal instructed mankind to take this time to enjoy their lavish lifestyle, enjoying the comfort of their cities while they could. Taking a nearby troublesome puppy as a trophy of Bugia’s downfall, Enal vanished once more, taking his army with him.

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